[SGVLUG] Because we have talked about this before.

[Michael Proctor-Smith]

Ok, from slashdot.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/01/11/1847256

USDA and farmers took part in a 5-year study of switchgrass, a grass
native to North America. The study found that switchgrass ethanol can
deliver around 540 percent of the energy used to produce it, as
opposed to corn ethanol which can only yield around 24 percent. "But
even a native prairie grass needs a helping hand from scientists and
farmers to deliver the yields necessary to help ethanol become a
viable alternative to petroleum-derived gasoline, Vogel argues. 'To
really maximize their yield potential, you need to provide nitrogen
fertilization,' he says, as well as improved breeding techniques and
genetic strains. 'Low input systems are just not going to be able to
get the energy per acre needed to provide feed, fuel and fiber.'"

So I guess that if we use switchgrass to produce ethanol i can get
into supporting ethanol. But that will never happen because the corn
farmers lobby is to strong.